Open architecture standard test also includes Benu Networks, Casa Systems, Cisco and Nokia
British carrier Vodafone announced that its multivendor partnership successfully carried out a test of Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) disaggregation. BNGs sit at the edge of broadband networks and converges user traffic from the access network.
The companies applied a new open architecture to the BNG based on the global TR-459 standard maintained by the Broadband Forum, according to Vodafone.
“…the test allowed the core control functions of the gateway, such as authenticating a user and increasing bandwidth to support streaming services, to be separated and managed efficiently in the cloud whilst ensuring multi-vendor interoperability. Vodafone can then separately upgrade, scale and deploy new features and add more capacity, enabling greater agility and faster time to market when making enhancements across its pan-European broadband network,” said Vodafone in a statement.
Broadband Network Gateways aren’t Vodafone’s only disaggregation focus, of course. The company has also made big headway with Open RAN efforts.
Vodafone and partners including Telecom Infra Project (TIP), Cohere Technologies, VMware, Capgemini Engineering and Intel ran an Open RAN multi-vendor trial this past June. The companies claimed a first: a 5G multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) running on a RIC located at a multi-vendor Open RAN test site.
Vodafone has also selected strategic partners for commercial Open RAN deployment in Europe, including Dell, NEC, Samsung Electronics, Wind River, Capgemini Engineering and Keysight Technologies. And Vodafone and Mavenir have partnered to use Open RAN systems to expand enterprise 4G.
“We are already driving a more diverse and open mobile ecosystem with Open RAN, and now we are targeting fixed broadband. As an industry, and with government support, we owe it to people with no or slow internet access to quicken the rollout of new capabilities on fast, fixed broadband,” said Vodafone CTO Johan Wibergh.
